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"I mean that I see to my own maids and keep my own accounts and suchlike. I do not know how to pass the days in idleness, sewing and singing. Yet Joanna's position, by virtue of her dower, will place her in just such an estate. If I keep her here, she will only learn my ways." |
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"They are best," Ian said definitely. |
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"I think so, too," Alinor agreed. "When you do your own accounts, no one cheats you. But I remember that when I went to court I almost died of boredom from having nothing to do." |
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"You will not send Joanna to court!" Ian exclaimed. |
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"No, of course not, but I think I will send her to Isobel. She has the fine art of doing nothing and enjoying it." |
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"Not yet?" Alinor echoed, bristling a little. She thought he was concerned for the shadow that lay upon William, the Earl of Pembroke, and that he thought she had not sufficiently considered her daughter's safety. |
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"I have a great value for Lady Isobel. She is kind, gentle, and loving; clever, too, but if God had not given her William Marshaloh, I mean Pembrokefor a husband, she would be nothing." |
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"There is more in Isobel than you see." |
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"Perhaps. You know her better than I, but that does not change my feeling. Joanna is very like Simon. She has a seriousness and a deep desire to do right. Young as Joanna is now, Lady Isobel might implant too deeply the conviction that obedience is always right." |
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"Ian!" Alinor smiled archly. "You! You who have loud and long bewailed my headstrong nature, right to my face. Do I hear aright? Do I hear you advising me against teaching Joanna obedience?" |
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"Hellcat!" Ian laughed, but then he sobered and shook his head. "If Joanna were Adam and Adam Joanna, I would agree with all my heart. Nothing will make Adam believe obedience is a virtue, and even if he |
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